ART WALK: Set to celebrate five years

Downtown event's success, growth a testament to hard work

Standard-Times file
J.J. Marrs performs oldies from the ’60s and ’70s outside The House of FiFi DuBois on Chadbourne Street during the January 2010 Downtown Art Walk. The monthly event celebrates its five-year anniversary Thursday.

Standard-Times file
Raul R. Ruiz works on a creation titled “Angora Billy” before a Downtown Art Walk in 2009. Ruiz had several art pieces on display in his studio during the event, which marks five years next week.

More info: Downtown San Angelo Inc. at 325-655-2345 or online at http://downtownsanangelo.com/artwalk.html or http://www.facebook.com/dtsaartwalk?fref=ts

Downtown San Angelo Inc. was forewarned when it organized the Downtown Art Walk that the event's momentum wouldn't come without persistence and a collaborative effort.

"After visiting with the group that puts the Abilene Art Walk together, they told us that you really have to be diligent about it because it took them almost 10 years for their Art Walk to become a staple for Abilene," said Del Velasquez, executive director of Downtown San Angelo Inc., the nonprofit that promotes Downtown San Angelo with events such as Art Walk.

"Bob Bluthardt (site manager of Fort Concho) told us it took him at least five years to get folks to really start showing up at Christmas at Old Fort Concho, and that's become quite a successful event for San Angelo."

Downtown San Angelo Inc. heeded the advice and has persevered with event, a monthly showcase of downtown art galleries, museums, music venues and merchants. The Art Walk at 5 p.m. Thursday — slated to feature nearly 20 downtown merchants and venues, prize giveaways and special live music outdoors and at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts — serves as both a fifth-anniversary milestone and visual proof of the event's burgeoning growth.

In addition to regulars such as The Glass Prism Art Glass Studio & Gallery, Cactus Hotel, D'Vine Wine, Stephens Central Library and Martiques Downtown, venues such as Vino Dipinte Art Gallery, The Black Swan Art Gallery and Wine Bar, UCRA Water Education Center and Zada Décor also will be open.

Velasquez said one to four venues are spotlighted each month and offer a prize giveaway valued at $100. Art Walk attendees must register at the featured venue to be eligible for the prize.

For the upcoming Art Walk, all participating venues were asked to donate a gift for inclusion in a gift basket. Registration forms will be handed out to each Art Walk attendee, and the winner of the gift basket will be drawn from the forms, Velasquez said.

The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, which with the Cultural Affairs Council is an Art Walk sponsor, will have cake for revelers and will feature at least two live musicians.

Joseph Ashmore, founder and executive director of the Soundstage Artist and Songwriters Association, is bringing in Sonny Throckmorton and Will T. Massey, and hoped to schedule Mark Cullimore or Daniel Makins as an opening act.

"Sonny's been in songwriting since 1964, and he has 17 No. 1 hits that he's written for everybody from The Judds to George Strait," Ashmore said. "He's a big name for songwriting, and Will was Songwriter of the Year (in Austin) last year, and he's from here."

Ashmore said three more musicians from the songwriters association will be stationed outside spots such as the Cactus Hotel and The Glass Prism "to create a festival-like atmosphere."

"Of course, since the Stribling (Art Extravaganza) is going on as well, they've got George Ensle playing at Fort Concho," Ashmore added.

As with all Art Walks, the works of San Angelo artists are a main attraction and a major reason the event was initially organized, said Mary Valva, owner of the The Glass Prism and coordinator of the Art Walk.

"There's so many people who have no idea how many local artists live here, and since we have so many galleries in the downtown area and we're a downtown association, we decided to put focus on them," she said.

This month, work from Angelo State University Graphic Design Student of the Year nominees, hosted by the American Advertising Federation's San Angelo Chapter, will be on display on West Concho Avenue.

"We've never had them before," Valva said. "That's what we try to encourage (from) different groups: If you want to come down during Art Walk, we'll find a spot for you."

Artists frequently call to say they are interested in displaying their work at the Art Walk but don't have a studio in which to do so, Valva said.

"That's how the Cactus started" getting involved, she said. "They take up to 15 artists on the mezzanine level" now.

In addition to free admission to the participating galleries, venues and merchants, many sites also offer free food, said Valva, who has complimentary wine, cheese and crackers at The Glass Prism.

A free trolley also is available to pick up foot traffic and transport people to each venue. The trolley circles around Chadbourne and Oakes Streets throughout the evening, Valva said.

Because some people opt to ride the trolley and others drive, it's difficult to discern how many people the Art Walk typically attracts, Valva said, but she estimated as many as 200 have attended.

Simply reminding people that the event is monthly takes constant effort, she said.

"It is very difficult to keep a monthly event going," she said. "We had several conversations throughout the years: ‘Let's change it to quarterly,' but our thought is we want it to be a fun thing whether it's monthly or quarterly, (and to) just keep it monthly and pound that into people's heads and hopefully it will stick."

The fact that, five years later, Art Walk has stuck is worthy of celebration, Velasquez said.

"From the time I came here in 2007 to now being back again, the dynamics are different," he said. There is "much more enthusiasm, and more people are interested. We think a lot of that interest and a lot of the development downtown is because we have an organization like Downtown San Angelo focusing on doing exactly what we're doing and on businesses being successful."